Probiotics or Antibiotics?
Bacteria are our gut’s friends, and this friendship has developed over the course of centuries and centuries. Most of the strains of bacteria present in our bodies cause no harm at all. In fact, they are fundamentally important to our overall health.
Our bodies are absolutely teeming with the little things. Our entire body, including mouths, skin and digestive tract, host a bacteria community with more than 100 trillion members — This is called is called our microbiome. And to keep this microbiome balanced is a basic need of being healthy and active.
Why is good gut health important for kids?
Optimizing the early-life microbiome is quite essential to our children’s overall wellbeing. About 70 to 80% of our immune system is located in the gastrointestinal tract, and when it is subjected to antibiotics, children’s immune health is compromised. A healthy microflora may help to reduce the risk of many digestive concerns commonly experienced by our little ones, such as diarrhea and constipation. Having a healthy microflora, made up of good bacteria, early in life decreases our risk of lower immunity and chronic diseases later in life.
What are the health effects of probiotics in kids?
Probiotics not only maintain the gut flora of your child by populating their gut with good bacteria, but they also prevent or decrease the severity of many health problems. Some commonly observed benefits of probiotics in kids are:
- Prevention of colic in babies
- Resolving issues like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diarrhea and constipation
- Fighting against infections like urinary tract and yeast infections
- Preventing from reactions like eczema and hay fever
- Providing some relieve to people with autoimmune disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis
- Providing relief to people with asthma
Antibiotics are medicines that are prescribed to treat infections and diseases. They kill harmful bacteria so that your child’s immune system has a fighting chance against bacterial infections. Still, they can kill good bacteria too, disturbing the balance of gut flora in your kids.
It is sometimes unavoidable to give prescribed antibiotics to your baby; it is also essential to consider the longer-term effects. Antibiotic medication not only destroys harmful bacteria — it also affects beneficial microflora. This can leave us susceptible to recurrent infections; therefore, following antibiotics, it is important to replenish healthy gut flora to enhance immune resistance. Probiotics are the best way to increase the beneficial bacteria population inside the gut. They even improve your child’s immune system, making them more resistant to pathogens.
What to look for in probiotic supplements for kids?
Probiotic supplements for your kids not only improve their gut health — they also contribute to their overall wellbeing. Before buying any probiotic supplement for kids, there are some key factors you must consider:
Live, active cultures
- Always make sure the probiotic supplement you choose contains live bacterial strains, so you can be sure that you are getting a useful product.
Multiple strains:
- Different strains of probiotics may have different effects. Always select a probiotic with multiple strains produced by the co-growth method.
Living liquid:
- Always choose a living liquid probiotic for your kids. Probiotic supplements in powdered or pill form use freeze-dry method to preserve these bacteria, which is not the natural way of bacterial growth. Freeze-dried bacteria appear weak and less resilient against the low pH of human gastric system.
Probioform
Probioform is a probiotic for the whole family. It’s a living liquid synthesized by the process of fermentation. There are no segregated probiotic strains present in it; instead, Probioform has multiple strains of bacteria that colonize in a co-growth manner. It not only provides various strains of bacteria, but these bacterial strains can survive easily in the highly acidic medium of the gastrointestinal tract.
